by Sean Pratt | Feb 27, 2021 | Film Recommendations
Greetings SBIFF Family! “Impossible things are happening every day!” Step into your glass slippers with this week’s Family Fun Film, “Rodgers and Hammerstein’s Cinderella”. Join Cinderella and her Fairy Godmother for one unforgettable night filled with...
by Sean Pratt | Feb 26, 2021 | Film Recommendations
Dear Cinephiles, Edee: “Why are you helping me?” Miguel: “You were in my path.” In the days following March 17, 2020, I felt as if the walls were encroaching on me. I know we’d been told that we were supposed to shelter in place for only two weeks, but the idea of...
by Sean Pratt | Feb 25, 2021 | Film Recommendations
Dear Cinephiles, “The world is never as you expect.” In the opening scene of the Danish director Thomas Vinterberg’s new film, “Another Round,” which is currently shortlisted for the Oscar Best International Feature, a group of high school students participate in what...
by Sean Pratt | Feb 24, 2021 | Film Recommendations
Dear Cinephiles, “You’re on your way to something, don’t stop.” I previously recommended to you the documentary “Time” (2020) which documents the 20 year ordeal of a wife trying to get her husband paroled from Angola. Garret Bradley has been reaping awards, and it was...
by Sean Pratt | Feb 23, 2021 | Film Recommendations
Dear Cinephiles, “The boy needs a female figure. Someone who commands respect.” Lola, the trans prostitute stops in to visit her son Babu who’s being looked after by 86-year old Mama Rosa, as she’s known to everyone. Rosa doesn’t get paid much for the favor, so Lola’s...
by Sean Pratt | Feb 22, 2021 | Film Recommendations
Dear Cinephiles, Palmer: “I know what it feels like to be left alone.” One of my dearest friends is a top chef, and a few days ago I was surprised to hear that he was making mac and cheese for dinner. “Roger, once in a while we need some well-made comfort food,” he...
by Sean Pratt | Feb 21, 2021 | Film Recommendations
Dear Cinephiles, Julian Marsh: “Sawyer, you listen to me, and you listen hard. Two hundred people, two hundred jobs, two hundred thousand dollars, five weeks of grind and blood and sweat depend upon you. It’s the lives of all these people who’ve worked...
by Sean Pratt | Feb 20, 2021 | Film Recommendations
Hello SBIFF Fam! “You’re never too old to be young.” – Happy Heigh-ho, heigh-ho! It’s home from work we go! Snuggle up in your cottage to watch this week’s Family Fun Film, “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs!” The beautiful Snow White is hunted by a jealous queen...
by Sean Pratt | Feb 19, 2021 | Film Recommendations
Dear Cinephiles, “One of the things I love most about this life is that there’s no final goodbye. I’ve met hundreds of people out here, and they don’t ever say a final goodbye. They’ll just say, ‘I’ll see you down the road.’ And I do. I see them again. And I can be...
by Sean Pratt | Feb 18, 2021 | Film Recommendations
Dear Cinephiles, “You can murder a freedom fighter, but you can’t murder freedom.” Last fall, Aaron Sorkin delivered his timely and compelling “The Trial of the Chicago 7,” which covered the federal government’s 1969 charging of seven activists with conspiracy arising...
by Sean Pratt | Feb 17, 2021 | Film Recommendations
Dear Cinephiles, Woman outside store: “Were you really Mac Sledge?” Mac: “Yes ma’am, I guess I was.” That exchange happens in “Tender Mercies” (1983), and like the film itself, it is a very understated moment. But then you start thinking...
by Sean Pratt | Feb 16, 2021 | Film Recommendations
Dear Cinephiles, “Suo tempore.” (Everything in its time.) Midnight on a Friday evening meant creature feature on television in Panama. My brother and I would get dispensation from our parents to stay up late and watch. The station would repeat some titles, and I...
by Sean Pratt | Feb 15, 2021 | Film Recommendations
Dear Cinephiles, “Things that hide are more dangerous and scary,” says grandma to the unruly seven-year old David as they come across a snake in Lee Isaac Chung’s kindhearted and far-reaching “Minari” (2020). She’s recently arrived from Korea with seeds in her pockets...
by Sean Pratt | Feb 14, 2021 | Film Recommendations
Dear Cinephiles, Dr. Alec Harvey : “I do love you, so very much. I love you with all my heart and soul.” Laura Jesson : “I want to die. If only I could die…” Dr. Alec Harvey : “If you’d die, you’d forget me. I want to be remembered.” “Brief...
by Sean Pratt | Feb 13, 2021 | Film Recommendations
Hello SBIFF Fam! “You are who you choose to be.” – The Iron Giant Explore an unlikely friendship between a boy and a robot in this week’s Family Fun film, “The Iron Giant.” Check out this the Activity Guide below and Join Hogarth and the Iron Giant as they...
by Sean Pratt | Feb 12, 2021 | Film Recommendations
Dear Cinephiles, “Is it the frank or the beans?” We see the set-up – something so outrageous — and it doesn’t stop. Everything up until this moment has been raunchy –– but you laugh. We all enjoy bathroom humor at some point in our lives – and this is taking it...
by Sean Pratt | Feb 11, 2021 | Film Recommendations
Dear Cinephiles, “I just didn’t know how to tell you how I felt. And I think I’m not used to needing anyone. But I need you.” As we head into Valentine’s weekend, I’ve been thinking about love stories on the screen and wanted to find something new. I’m glad I found...
by Sean Pratt | Feb 10, 2021 | Film Recommendations
Dear Cinephiles, “I want to be with you. And that what’s needed to be said.” I think one of the hardest things I’ve had to deal with is allowing myself to fall in love and be loved. I was a loner most of my life – and enjoyed being that way. I was always very private...
by Sean Pratt | Feb 9, 2021 | Film Recommendations
Dear Cinephiles, Damiel : “It’s great to live by the spirit, to testify day by day for eternity, only what’s spiritual in people’s minds. But sometimes I’m fed up with my spiritual existence. Instead of forever hovering above I’d like to...
by Sean Pratt | Feb 8, 2021 | Film Recommendations
Dear Cinephiles, “You always wanted to hold my hand when you were little.” I was meeting with the SBIFF staff via Zoom on Friday when we heard of Christopher Plummer’s death. There was a pause in our conversation, and a sinking feeling. Everybody loved Mr. Plummer –...
by Sean Pratt | Feb 7, 2021 | Film Recommendations
Dear Cinephiles, “Everybody has a mother.” One of Hollywood’s legendary actresses, Joan Crawford campaigned to get the role that would ultimately yield her Best Actress Oscar, for “Mildred Pierce” (1945). She hadn’t worked in two years. Her 18-year career at Metro...
by Sean Pratt | Feb 6, 2021 | General
Films and Schedule for the 36th Santa Barbara International Film Festival will be available...
by Sean Pratt | Feb 6, 2021 | Film Recommendations
Hello SBIFF Fam! “You are too concerned with what was and what will be. There is a saying: Yesterday is history, tomorrow is a mystery, but today is a gift. That is why it is called the present.” Join Po the panda as he works on fulfilling his dream of...
by Sean Pratt | Feb 5, 2021 | Film Recommendations
Dear Cinephiles, “And when you say ‘No, no, no it’s not true, nothing is missing from the relationship,’ the person you’re involved with then accuses you of being secretly attracted to the person you’re just friends with, which you probably are. I...
by Sean Pratt | Feb 4, 2021 | Film Recommendations
Dear Cinephiles, Ramona: “Desperate, I love that word. It’s so romantic.” I think everyone has felt at some point or another like switching places with someone else or trying to understand how someone else lives. The grass is always greener, isn’t it? In the beguiling...
by Sean Pratt | Feb 3, 2021 | Film Recommendations
Dear Cinephiles, “I don’t care what I see outside. My vision is within. Here is where the birds sing. Here is where the sky is blue.” The above sentiment is what has gotten me through the worst moments of the past 11 months. Being confined to our homes – to staring at...
by Sean Pratt | Feb 2, 2021 | Film Recommendations
Dear Cinephiles, “I just want something for myself.” Those words are expressed by Turquoise Jones in Channing Godfrey Peoples’ phenomenal debut – “Miss Juneteenth” (2020). She is a black woman in Fort Worth, Texas who has had her dream deferred. Sixteen years ago,...
by Sean Pratt | Feb 1, 2021 | Film Recommendations
Billy Ray Valentine: “What if I can’t do this job, Coleman? What if I’m not what they expected?” Coleman: “Just be yourself, sir. Whatever happens, they can’t take that away from you.” My dear Cinephile reader, I never expected to be writing to you...
by Sean Pratt | Jan 31, 2021 | Film Recommendations
Dear Cinephiles, Jim Stark: “If I had one day when I didn’t have to be all confused and I didn’t have to feel that I was ashamed of everything. If I felt that I belonged someplace. You know?” One of the positive things that have come out of the past year...
by Sean Pratt | Jan 30, 2021 | Film Recommendations
Hello SBIFF Fam! “Have you ever felt like you were a little bit different? Like you had something unique to offer the world, if you could just get people to see it?” – Flint Lockwood This week’s forecast for our Family Fun Film is in, it’s Cloudy With a Chance...
